Espanyol, being one of the clubs granted royal patronage, was founded exclusively by Spanish football fans, unlike the multinational nature of Barça's primary board. The founding message of the club was clearly anti-Barcelona, and they disapprovingly saw FC Barcelona as a team of foreigners.[2] The rivalry was strengthened by what Catalonians saw as a provocative representative of Madrid.[3] Their original ground was in the affluent district of Sarrià.[4][5]

During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) and Francisco Franco (1939–1975), Espanyol was seen by the vast majority of Barcelona's citizens as a club which cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority, in stark contrast to Barça's revolutionary spirit.[6] Also in the 1960s and '70s, while FC Barcelona acted as a social integrator for immigrants from poorer regions of Spain in search for a better life, Espanyol drew their support mainly from sectors close to the regime such as policemen, military officers, civil servants and career fascists.[7]

In 1918, Espanyol started a counter-petition against autonomy, which at that time had become a pertinent issue.[2] Later on, an Espanyol supporter group would join the Falangists in the Spanish Civil War, siding with the fascists. Despite these differences in ideology, the derbi has always been more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives. In recent years the rivalry has become less political, as Espanyol translated its official name and anthem from Spanish to Catalan.[2]

Though it is the most played local derby in the history of La Liga, it is also the most unbalanced, with Barcelona overwhelmingly dominant. In the league table, Espanyol has only managed to finish above Barça on three occasions in almost 70 years and the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey final was won by Barça in 1957. Espanyol has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6–0 in 1951. Espanyol achieved a 2–1 win against Barça during the 2008–09 season, becoming the first team to defeat Barcelona at Camp Nou in their treble-winning season.[8] Barça's Lionel Messi has scored 16 goals against Espanyol, the most in the history of the derby.[1][9]